04 November, 2011

A guest post by Annette Najjar
I remember well when we announced that our first business, Chesapeake Light Craft, would be taking credit cards in addition to the checks we'd always accepted. We immediately received a hand-written letter decrying our defection to the dark side; we could just see the writer tsk tsk-ing, shaking his head sorrowfully.

A tiny boat design business accepting credit cards back then was a pretty major step. Twenty years later, running another niche business, we maintain a powerful e-commerce platform (except when it isn't) and don't even accept checks anymore. Despite all the program features and the data that we command – excluding credit card info, to which we have no access – there are just some things that we never considered doing, simply because we don't want it done to us. We're the types who e-shop only when we need something, most likely yesterday. We expect a confirmation and a tracking number, but any other communication from the vendor is spam to us. And local businesses usually don't get our e-mail addresses or our phone numbers.

In a recent relaxing of the guard, however, I joined the email list for a local specialty food shop. If I hadn't then I wouldn't have received an e-coupon for a free crusty baguette or known of the line of soups that the shop prepares daily. I didn't need either, but I'll remember them when I do (well, OK, I rushed out to get the baguette).

Hence our questions. Would you appreciate receiving e-mailed promo offers and single-use coupon codes? Or would they become spam and keep you from ever shopping with us again? And before you ask: yes, you could opt out, and no, we don't divulge any of your information to anyone.

What would you do with VO coupon codes and special offers sent by email?

17 comments:

Spam. Good items don't need promotion, so it's usually just the old inventory in odd sizes that gets advertised. I prefer passive advertising of things like that (like putting them in a sale section in the shop) rather than having frequent emails about the stuff I really don't need.

I have a small list of things I'd like to buy from VO, none of which I desperately need at the moment. For example, I want to get a custom fat tire road bike next year, and the Grand Cru brakes would be perfect, so I want to have those on the shelf. When I miss the flash sales that have happened in the past, I'm disappointed. So if I got a single use "x% off all VO and Grand Cru labelled products" in an email, I'd probably be more likely to buy these stock up items.

Why not make it an opt-in system? Announce it here, put it on the website, include info with each order. That way folks who WANT your spam (which, of course, make it not spam!) can get it while others never have to be bothered.

It also occurs to me that you "poll" sets up two extremes -- there's a lot of space between redeeming gratefully and deleting and unsubscribing. Why offer such limited option on your poll -- you will not likely get the true range of reader's opinions with such an artificial constraint.

It's not really spam if it's opt-in only, with the box "unclicked" by default, and I doubt many of your customers would feel any differently. But things like aggressive online-only promo codes can make a difference to shops trying to sell your stuff, especially your more expensive stuff. A lot of shops/owners/buyers are pretty sensitive about that kind of thing.

I agree with bubba. I lot of what I order is for future projects that are floating to the top of my list gradually. I'd like to know when something is on sale or an offer is available. Certainly make it an opt in system. (Don't have the "send me offers" box checked by default.) Make it easy to unsubscribe.

I order using a different email address than the one I use when I post here. Mrs Dibbly & I share the address I use when ordering. That makes it easier for us to keep the books in order. Give me some way to control which address my offers are going to be sent to.

The difference between "spam" and "helpful newsletter" is frequency of posting. Unfortunately, it's tough to tell how frequent is too frequent--some people would consider their inboxes clogged by one extra message per year, while others would welcome daily messages.

I think an opt-in weekly, bi-weekly, or monthly message would be fine, and could also include a round-up of interesting blog posts. Having the occasional coupon code would just be icing on the cake. I can't speak for everyone, but I read the VO blog more for the interesting content than for new product news.

I've been following the Velo-Orange site for at least 3, maybe 4 years! I simply go to your site almost everyday, mainly to read your blog and to see if there are any new products or to just gaze at some of your products that I ponder on buying in another time. I also like your tweeter links. With sites like Performance and others, I take them for granted delete lots of their e-mails! But with Velo-Orange it's always a lot of fun to find out what is going on.

Opting in (vs. out) is definitely the way to go. One thing to consider from a business standpoint is that you will definitely see people posting coupon/promo codes to forums, trading them, etc. -- just something to bear in mind.

I don't mind receiving e-mails from businesses that I like, like VO, but it should be opt-in (i.e. Check here to receive e-mails from VO when you're ordering) and it should be easy to opt-out again from the website or a link from the e-mail. And sites that spam you every day are annoying. Weekly would probably be perfectly fine. I have bumped into products in the VO store that I never knew about that are useful, and promoting those by e-mail doesn't seem like a bad thing.